THE $639M fraud trial against former Public Service Minister, Jennifer Westford and her former aide Margaret Cummings was Wednesday adjourned after it was found that the statements filed were in “disarray.”Westford and Cummings faced 24 charges before Magistrate Judy Latchman for allegedly stealing more than $639 million from the Government of Guyana over a period of five years, while being stationed at the Ministry of Public Service.

The duo is represented by a team of attorneys – Rexford McKay, Neil Boston, Keisha Chase, Eusi Anderson, Bibi Shaddick, Brandon Glasford, Dexter Todd and Stanley Moore.

At the start of proceedings, Chief Accountant of the Ministry of the Presidency, Department of Public Service, Andre Dazzle was the first witness to be called on behalf of Police Prosecutor, Vishnu Hunt.
However his testimony was stopped halfway by attorney Boston.

Dazzle was able to identify that Dr. Westford was the head of the Ministry between the years of 2011-2015, while Cummings was her Personnel Officer, who also acted as the Administration Officer and Confidential Secretary to Dr. Westford.

The witness disclosed that Cummings was responsible for the day-to-day operation of the accounts department and was the person who he reported to directly.

However, his evidence was halted after Boston objected. The lawyer was unable to follow, since Page 54 in the prosecution’s file was of Dazzle’s statement, but in the lawyer’s file, Page 54 was the statement of former Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Public Service.

The Attorney was quick to point out that the prosecutor was treating the witness as Ally since Page 52 of the file is what was being led by Dazzle.

The Prosecutor was quick to address the lawyer’s claims and contended that it was a mere mix up of the files since there are 24 statements from each of the files, which may be numbered wrong.

“I will put together one file for the court to stop the confusion,” Hunt said in an application for the new file of statements.

In what Boston deemed as “a hurricane of turbulence,” the matter was adjourned until July 26 for the file to be submitted and for the trial to continue.

Westford and Cummings are both out on bail of $4.8M each after they pleaded not guilty to the joint charges in February last.

The charges state that between the period of October 19, 2011 and April 28, 2015, Westford and Cummings, while being employed with the former Public Service Ministry, stole $639,420,000 belonging to the Government of Guyana, which they accessed by virtue of employment.

It is also alleged that between 2011 and 2015, Westford signed 24 memorandums amounting to $639,420,000 and sent them to the Permanent Secretary at the Office of the President to be signed and approved.

The money was said to have been requested for activities to be conducted in the 10 administrative regions.

Westford acted in her capacity of Minister and signed a number of memorandums for the total sum of $639,420,000 and sent them to the Permanent Secretary of the Public Service Ministry, who in turn approved them.

The payment vouchers were made by the Office of the President and sent to the Finance Ministry, which issued the cheques and Cummings signed for them. The cheques were allegedly made out for the purpose of financing various activities of the Public Service Ministry across the 10 administrative regions; however, an investigation revealed that these events never took place, nor were there any documents to show how the money was spent.